While scriptural role models for women are few compared with those for men, Isaiah offers a preeminent role model: the Woman Zion. She not only represents God’s people—Jehovah’s wife under the terms of the covenant—she also typifies the ideal woman. Like all humankind, she is subject to sin and transgression. But by repenting and “serving her term,” she expiates her guilt (Isaiah 40:2). Rejecting false suitors and proving loyal to her husband (Isaiah 37:22), she gives birth to a new nation of God’s people: “Can the earth labor but a day and a nation be born at once? For as soon as she was in labor, Zion gave birth to her children” (Isaiah 66:8).
When her covenant with Jehovah becomes unconditional (Isaiah 54:10), she flourishes in the earth: “You shall no more be called the forsaken one, nor your land referred to as desolate; you shall be known as her in whom I delight and your land considered espoused. . . . As the bridegroom rejoices over the bride, so shall your God rejoice over you” (Isaiah 62:4–5). Her holdings increase: “Expand the site of your tent; extend the canopies of your dwellings. Do not hold back; lengthen your cords and strengthen your stakes. For you shall spread abroad to the right and to the left; your offspring shall dispossess the nations and resettle the desolate cities” (Isaiah 54:2–3).
